Confusion (novella)

Confusion (German: Verwirrung der Gefühle), also known in English under the titles Confusion of Feelings or Episode in the Early Life of Privy Councillor D. is a 1927 novella by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. It tells the story of a student and his friendship with a professor. It was originally published in the omnibus volume Conflicts: Three Tales, together with two other Zweig novellas, Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman and Untergang eines Herzens. It was included on Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century list.

In the novella, Zweig shows his great appreciation of the Elizabethan era in literature.

Plot

Roland, the narrator, begins the story after he becomes an English professor years after the central action takes place. Roland explains that he was a poor student and how he would end up intoxicated on the streets of Berlin. His father then sends him off to university in the country.

Confusion is the account of [...] Roland, who has become enamored of the intellectual, bewildering, and isolated world of his greatest idol — his college professor. Roland gravitates toward the secluded home of his professor, the seclusion prompted by the fear of having his secret revealed. The novella, referencing the Greats (writers and philosophers alike) blurs all three of the greatest distinctions of love of the Ancient Greeks: Philia, Èros, and Agápe, although the novella does not address them explicitly.”

At his new university, Roland meets his new professor of English literature, and immediately becomes fascinated by the aging man. The professor helps him find a place to stay, in the same building he lives. Roland becomes very close to the professor and is often invited to talk with him in his study. He discovers the fact that the professor has a wife, to whom he is extremely cold.

Roland becomes obsessed with literature, but also with the professor, who becomes a sort of godlike figure for him. He is, however, puzzled by the professor's absences - every once in a while the professor disappears for a few days, leaving his student confused and alone.

One day, whilst swimming, Roland meets a young lady, and, taking a liking to her, offers to accompany her home. To his utter shock, she leads him all the way to the house in which he lives, and he discovers she is his old professor's wife. He becomes her friend, and she takes care of him whenever the professor leaves.

They soon start inviting him over to dine with them. The atmosphere at dinner is always cold, Roland understands the husband and wife don't have much liking for each other.

Throughout the novella, Roland becomes desperate, he doesn't understand why the professor seems to have such changing feelings towards him. The professor could be extremely close to Roland one day, and the next ignore him. At the end of the book, Roland decides to leave, and the professor decides he has to explain.

He explains that he has always felt attracted to men, that his wife was only a brief distraction. His getaways were a way to satisfy his desires. He opens himself up to Roland completely, and tells him that he loves him.

Roland never sees the professor again, but remembers him fondly, and thinks of him as the person who made him who he is. The book is Roland's response to a biography published about him by his students - he went on to become a distinguished professor. His old professor's name is not mentioned in this biography, and he feels he has to right this. That is why he writes a book where he relates his friendship with the professor and his wife, because he considers it as something that decided what his life would turn out to be.